Coffee represents one (1) of the most highly consumed beverages in the world. In addition, much coffee is produced by means of small personal coffee machines due to the facts that personal preferences vary greatly and that coffee is often consumed early in the morning and in small quantities. Conventional coffee makers require a user to load a filter and a desired amount of coffee grounds every time a new pot of coffee is to be brewed. However, this process often leads to inconveniences and messes related to the collapsing of the filter, spilling of the grounds, and the like.
Various attempts have been made to provide various types of coffee filters for low volume batches of coffee. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,355, issued in the name of Kasakoff, describes a coffee filter bag which provides a sealed bag-type enclosure for a volume of coffee.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,858, issued in the name of Baird et al., describes a conventional “instant coffee” type packet and a method of production, which contains a sealed and pre-packaged amount of coffee for quick and convenient usage by a consumer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,267, issued in the name of Gruenbacher, describes a coffee filter pack with added provisions to make the filter self-aligning within the coffee maker and to provide enhanced water-to-coffee contact for high efficiency brewing.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such devices do not provide features to help eliminate messes associated with conventional brewing procedures. Also, many such devices do not allow a user to select the type or amount of coffee to be brewed according to volume requirements and personal preference. Furthermore, many such devices do not provide the user with a means to easily and cleanly fill the device for use with a conventional coffee maker. Accordingly, there exists a need for a coffee filter envelope without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.